2: Couplet In a poem, a pair of lines that are the same length and usually rhyme and form a complete thought. EX: If turkeys gobble, Do Pilgrims squabble? | Poetry Terms | Trochee A metrical foot of two syllables, one long (or stressed) and one short (or unstressed). EX: Twinkle, twinkle, little star How I wonder what you are. | 2

3: Stanza A division or unit of a poem that is repeated in the same form--either with similar or identical patterns or rhyme and meter, or with variations from one stanza to another. There are 4 stanzas in the poem below. EX: Seven Wonders of the World By: Anonymous I wonder why the sun is hot I wonder why it rains a lot I wonder why the sky is blue I wonder why a cow goes moo I wonder why the clouds skip by I wonder why a bird can fly I wonder will the lesson end Before I'm driven round the bend. | MOO | MOO!! | 3

4: “Birches” – Robert Frost WHEN I see birches bend to left and right Across the line of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy's been swinging them. But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay. Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them 5 Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells 10 Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust— Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load, And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed 15 So low for long, they never right themselves: You may see their trunks arching in the woods Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair Before them over their heads to dry in the sun. 20 But I was going to say when Truth broke in

5: With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm (Now am I free to be poetical?) I should prefer to have some boy bend them As he went out and in to fetch the cows— 25 Some boy too far from town to learn baseball, Whose only play was what he found himself, Summer or winter, and could play alone. One by one he subdued his father's trees By riding them down over and over again 30 Until he took the stiffness out of them, And not one but hung limp, not one was left For him to conquer. He learned all there was To learn about not launching out too soon And so not carrying the tree away 35 Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise To the top branches, climbing carefully With the same pains you use to fill a cup Up to the brim, and even above the brim. Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish, 40 Kicking his way down through the air to the ground. So was I once myself a swinger of birches; And so I dream of going back to be. It's when I'm weary of considerations, And life is too much like a pathless wood 45 Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs | "Birches"- Continued

6: Broken across it, and one eye is weeping From a twig's having lashed across it open. I'd like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over. 50 May no fate wilfully misunderstand me And half grant what I wish and snatch me away Not to return. Earth's the right place for love: I don't know where it's likely to go better. I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree, 55 And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more, But dipped its top and set me down again. That would be good both going and coming back. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches. 60 | "Birches"- Continued

7: Birches Analysis T: He is talking about birches, which is a type of tree. Robert Frost might be talking about trees. P: A man hoped that the trees were bent over from children swinging on them. But they were really bent over from a big ice storm. The setting is a place with lots of birch trees or a birch tree. The characters are a boy and a man. C: Frost uses imagery a lot like when he says " Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning after a rain." and when he says " Across the line of straight. Frost also uses personification like when he is talking about the tree sending him down from trying to get to heaven. "But dipped its top and set me down again."

8: Birches Analysis- Continued Frost uses a Metaphor when he says "You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen." This is basically saysing that this is the way heaven appears to him: very beautiful and nice. He also uses Personification when he says "But I was going to say when Truth broke in With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm." This is basically when Frost is being brought back to reality and what really happened to the birch trees. Why is it so important to describe the boys playing on the trees? Its important becuase it shows how much he liked being a carefree stressless child. Also when he says "So was I once myself a swinger of birches; And so I dream of going back to be." He is talking how he used to be a kid physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

9: Birches Analysis- Continued Also when he says "So was I once myself a swinger of birches; And so I dream of going back to be." He is talking how he used to be a kid physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. When he says "I'd like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over...." He is saying that he metaphorically wants to climb up a birch tree and stay there temporarily. In the last like "One could do worse than be a swinger of birches." He is saying that playing and having fun is better than being stuck being responsible all the time. I'm not sure what he meant when he was talking about "It's when I'm weary of considerations....." A: His tone is nostalgy. Remembering what it was like to be a kid and what its like to be an adult.

10: Birches Analysis- Continued S: The shift is when he starts off by saying " So was I once myself a swinger of birches......" He then shifts to the theme of the poem. T: Childhood is an important part in life and lots of people would like to go back to it. And relive how stressfree you are. T: The poem is saying that child hood is very important, you can do whatever you want, and dont have to worry about anything. Many adults wish that they could go back to being a child even if it is just for a day.

11: Original Poems

12: Ode to a Pencil You are always there for me With your sleek yellow paint And sharp pointy tip You wipe away all my tiny mistakes And I can always trust you, to make my writing beautiful Pencil you make words flow so perfectly It makes writing a breeze, And it just gives me joy, To write with you in my hand Without you my thoughts, would be stuck in my head, And I would never get them down on paper

13: It was minutes before, the rest of my life. The game started, I was playing defense. The score stayed the same, the whole entire game. Just when I thought, it would all end. We scored a goal. We all cheered. There were 10 seconds on the clock The score was 0-1 us, 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 we all chanted. The buzzer rang, and we all cheered. For we had just won, the soccer championship. We shook hands with the other team, and got our trophy. | The Big Game Narrative Poem